Unified puts off further discussion of cuts

San Diego  The San Diego school district will not propose any further budget cuts until Gov. Jerry Brown issues the much-anticipated “May revise,” the latest state spending plan expected to be released May 13.

Superintendent Bill Kowba canceled a news conference on Tuesday ﻿scheduled to discuss the San Diego Unified School District’s so-called doomsday budget, saying there were too many unknowns with the state’s finances.

The school board has approved $114 million in preliminary cuts to next year’s $1.04 billion budget to cope with the state’s fiscal crisis. But when financial planners last month warned that the deficit could grow by another $50 million, trustees directed Kowba to assemble a menu of additional cuts to illustrate the severity of the situation.

The superintendent has put off that task until after the state budget plan is released. San Diego Unified and other districts throughout the state say the budget is a moving target this year since Brown is still pushing for $11.2 billion in tax extensions to protect schools from devastating cuts next year. But Republicans have rejected that proposal.

Without tax revenue and under an “all-cuts” budget, school districts stand to lose about $4.5 billion. But very few districts have prepared for that kind of worst-case scenario, one that could require them to close schools several weeks early. Schools rely on the state for three-quarters of their funding.

The San Diego school board issued pink slips to more than 1,000 employees — teachers and nonteaching employees to save money next year. Administrators rescinded 559 teacher pink slips so far, but trustee John Lee Evans has asked for a tally of resignations and retirements in hopes of finding vacancies that could rescind even more layoff notices.